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The Missouri Compromise of 1820, a legislative effort to mediate the radical differences between slaveholders and abolitionists, did not achieve its goal and thus is remembered by history as a failure, just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert sectional civil war.

a. just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert b. just the first of a half-dozen more attempts to avert c. and the first attempt of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert d. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts averting e. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts aimed at averting

Can someone explain to me how this is a proper sentence with the 'and' omitted?

I can't help but feel that the sentence, with original construction, is either a run-on or has some other grammatical construct error. I haven't seen this issue outside of Kaplan, but have seen this considered by Kaplan as a correct construct in 3 questions. _________________

I understood your doubt. X, Y is a run on sentence if and only if X, Y are independent clauses( which means that both sentences must have main subject and a main verb ) and are not connected with any conjunction.

Example: I like to watch television, Watching television for long hours is not good for eyes. -> Run on sentenceI like to watch television, but watching television for long hours is not good for eyes. -> not a Run sentence(connected by but)

the sentence in QA - just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert sectional civil war. is not an independent clause. Hence the option A is not a run-on sentenceHope it helps _________________

The Missouri Compromise of 1820, a legislative effort to mediate the radical differences between slaveholders and abolitionists, did not achieve its goal and thus is remembered by history as a failure, just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert sectional civil war.

a. just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert b. just the first of a half-dozen more attempts to avert c. and the first attempt of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert d. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts averting e. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts aimed at averting

Good question.First of all try to identify the simple modifiers and to eliminate it, if it is of no use. Here the simple modifier is : "a legislative effort to mediate the radical differences between slaveholders and abolitionists". On removal of this modifier, the sentence becomes:-The Missouri Compromise of 1820 did not achieve its goal and thus is remembered by history as a failure, just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert sectional civil war.

The last part of the sentence is a modifier and is describing the entire preceding clause. Such type of modifier is called Absolute Phrases.

POE:B:-changes the meaning entirely.C, D,E: usage of ",and" justifies nothing. In the preceding clause, it says that the act will be remembered by history as failure. Hence, if it were to use in a sense in which it has to be remembered, then there shouldn't have been a comma. Since its there, CDE are incorrect.

I understood your doubt. X, Y is a run on sentence if and only if X, Y are independent clauses( which means that both sentences must have main subject and a main verb ) and are not connected with any conjunction.

Example: I like to watch television, Watching television for long hours is not good for eyes. -> Run on sentenceI like to watch television, but watching television for long hours is not good for eyes. -> not a Run sentence(connected by but)

the sentence in QA - just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert sectional civil war. is not an independent clause. Hence the option A is not a run-on sentenceHope it helps

Hey - thank you for the clarification on run-ons.

Ok, I realize now that it's not a run-on sentence, but I still feel that it has some sort of error:

Your example sentence, "I like to watch television, but watching television for long hours is not good for eyes" is fine because of the conjunction, but I don't think this follows the same construct as this Kaplan question. Your example joins two independent clauses with a conjunction. Their answer adds on some sort of modifying phrase without any conjunction.

The problem's sentence construct is in my opinion equivalent to the following:

I love to eat chocolate, just the ones in the red box.==The 1820 Compromise is a failure, just the first of many.

I cannot identify what type of error this is, but it definitely sounds wrong to me. _________________

a. just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert b. just the first of a half-dozen more attempts to avert c. and the first attempt of more than a half-dozen attempts to avert d. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts averting e. and just the first of more than a half-dozen attempts aimed at averting

B-->change in meaningC-->redundant...first attempt of more than ___ attempts? why not just say first of a few attemptsD-->attempts averting...wrong idiomatic structureE-->attempts aimed at...again wrong idiomatic structure. You attempt TO do something.

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

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